A Weekend-Like Monday?

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but the first day I started The Artist’s Way‘s recommended exercises (Morning Pages + an Artist Date), I felt in a peaceful state of flow all day.

Morning Pages is an exercise of long-hand, stream-of-consciousness journaling for three pages (exactly) every morning. I don’t want to delve into the benefits too deeply yet, as of this post I’ve only done it twice! But my instincts (and the book) tell me it serves as a healthy unloading of thoughts: good, bad and neutral. Removing creative blocks, if you will. After trying it out for the first time, I felt light and ready to tackle my Monday.

Judging by my furrowed brow, I was serious about heading off to the office. It was a busy and productive Monday for the magazines, which is invigorating but usually draining. I also decided I’d get my first weekly Artist Date on the schedule right away.

Artist Dates are meant to be solo adventures that enliven your creative spirit. I’ve been excited about collecting art for a long time, but I’ve been “blocked” by a lot of negative thoughts: Art is too expensive. This is too overwhelming; how do I know which pieces will go together? I don’t have good enough taste. I’m not an artist so I can’t collect it. There are too many other “to-dos” to tackle; this isn’t important enough. Blah Blah.

I’ve been reading blogs about hunting thrift stores for vintage art and/or great deals on fun pieces, so I decided my Artist Date would take me to the Goodwill. After looking at a lot of duds, I found a Henri Matisse print of his Blue Nude III for $6.00. What a steal! Re-home this baby in a gold or wooden frame, and it will be marvelous. Fun! And for less than eating out for lunch, I bought something we can hang in our dining room or office for years to come. Why did I think I couldn’t do this again?

After work, I took a little rest before helping Nick prepare broccoli fritters for dinner. I am in love with the yogurt sauce we dollop on top: Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and minced garlic. So, so good.

After we finished our fritters, we sipped beers on the patio… inspired by the backyard and covered patio we’ll get to enjoy at our new house! We don’t know the exact move-in date yet, but we’re super eager to be in there already.

Harper did a (pretty) good job of supervising. 🙂 Happy pup!

At the end of the day, I’d felt like my Monday was somehow an entire weekend (with work? perhaps a whole week?) rolled into one day. I’ll be interested to see if it really was due to some extra creative effort, or if I just got Artist’s Way beginner’s luck. Who knows, but I wasn’t complaining.